Hornets blank Trojans to end regular season on a good note

By Matt Le Cren

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Every team wants to go into the playoffs with some momentum.

Hinsdale South will do just that after ending the regular season on a high note by edging host Downers Grove North 1-0 on Friday.

After a tough start, the Hornets have posted a 3-2-1 record in their last six matches and will take a 7-12-3 mark into Tuesday’s playoff opener against Fenwick.

“We’ve kind of had a rough beginning to our season, so ending on a good note I think is just going to give us the confidence to go into playoffs with a better head on our shoulders,” South junior Brenda Maugeri said.

Maugeri scored the only goal of the game, which came with 26:54 left in the second half. Sophomore Jessica Koziol slotted a perfect through ball up the middle to Maugeri, who split the defense and slid a shot under charging Downers North goalie Christina Siddu.

“Me and Jess have been playing together for a while,” Maugeri said. “I’ve known her for basically my whole life. We just have a good connection on the field, so as soon as she told me to run through I knew where she was going and I was in the right place.”

Neither team could get anything going in a listless first half that produced few shots and no dangerous scoring opportunities. That wasn’t surprising considering both sides are full of young, inexperienced players.

Like the Hornets, the Trojans (4-11-2) have shown improvement. After going winless in their first nine games, they won four straight before losing their last three contests.

But South completely shut the hosts down during the second half.

“In the first half we were kind of slow,” Maugeri said. “Then at halftime the coaches gave us a pep talk. They’re like, ‘you guys need to go out there and want it,’ and it was our last regular season game so we wanted to go out with a bang, I guess.”

Credit some of the urgency to defender Carolanne Pilch, the only active senior on the roster. Pilch combined with freshman Elisabetta Bifero, sophomore Mary Claire Ladd and juniors Kerry Just and Colleen McPherson to play lockdown defense in front of junior goalie Paulina Noga.

The Hornet keeper had to make only two saves in recording her first career shutout in her fifth start since taking over for injured starter Vanessa Niestrom.

“[Pilch] has played the whole season super hard,” South coach Pat Wolf said. “She has been stellar. She has the desire, she has the skill and wants to give everything she can and sometimes it’s not matched by some of the younger players.”

Being the only senior hasn’t always been easy for Pilch, but she’s honed her leadership skills this spring.

“We’re definitely improving as the season goes on,” Pilch said. “In the beginning a lot of the girls [were new to] playing varsity, so I had to help them figure out how to play their positions at a top level.

“We’ve definitely improved playing as a team, getting to know each other and how each other plays. This win is going to give us a little bit extra boost going against Fenwick.”

South is the 10th seed at the Class 3A Downers Grove South Sectional while Fenwick (9-8-1) is seeded seventh.

The two sides will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in the semifinals of the York Regional. The winner likely will face No. 2 seed York in Friday’s regional final.

Fenwick and the Hornets have had four common opponents. Both lost to York and Benet, while Fenwick beat Oak Park and River Forest, which defeated Hinsdale South, and Saint Ignatius, whom the Hornets tied.

“As far as I know we’re pretty evenly-matched so going into [that game] we feel pretty confident,” Maugeri said. “We just have to go out there and play our hardest like we did the second half today and hopefully we’ll come out with a win.”